Social Networking with Assistive Technology Device

ABSTRACT

An approach is provided that assists visually impaired users. The approach analyzes a document that is being utilized by the visually impaired user. The analysis derives a sensitivity of the document. A vocal characteristic corresponding to the derived sensitivity is retrieved. Text from the document is audibly read to the visually impaired user with a text to speech process that utilizes the retrieved vocal characteristic. The retrieved vocal characteristic conveys the derived sensitivity of the document to the visually impaired user.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Technical Field

This disclosure relates to an approach that emphasizes particulartextual areas to sight impaired users using screen readers that providetonal emphasis based on sensitivity levels.

Description of Related Art

Using traditional assistive technology (AT), screen readers are notcapable to pro-actively alerting vision-impaired users of the intendedaudience or sensitivity levels when messages are posted, such as insocial networking web sites. In many traditional systems, the visuallyimpaired user has to tab to the privacy level to find out where themessage will be posted (e.g., Public, Friends, Only Me, Custom, CloseFriends, etc.). If the user presses the Enter key before reading thisdrop down list, then the message will be posted before the user realizeswhich audience will be allowed to read the message. This can be harmfulif an intended private message is posted to a public group.

SUMMARY

An approach is provided that assists visually impaired users. Theapproach analyzes a document that is being utilized by the visuallyimpaired user. The analysis derives a sensitivity of the document. Avocal characteristic corresponding to the derived sensitivity isretrieved. Text from the document is audibly read to the visuallyimpaired user with a text to speech process that utilizes the retrievedvocal characteristic. The retrieved vocal characteristic conveys thederived sensitivity of the document to the visually impaired user.

The foregoing is a summary and thus contains, by necessity,simplifications, generalizations, and omissions of detail; consequently,those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary isillustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Otheraspects, inventive features, and advantages of the present inventionwill be apparent in the non-limiting detailed description set forthbelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention may be better understood, and its numerousobjects, features, and advantages made apparent to those skilled in theart by referencing the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a processor and components of aninformation handling system;

FIG. 2 is a network environment that includes various types ofinformation handling systems interconnected via a computer network;

FIG. 3 is a component diagram that depicts the various components usedin providing advanced assistive technology to visually impaired users toalert the user of sensitivity and audience issues;

FIG. 4 is a depiction of a flowchart showing steps taken during anenhanced screen reader voice characteristic setup process;

FIG. 5 is a depiction of a flowchart showing steps taken during enhancedscreen reader usage;

FIG. 6 is a depiction of a flowchart showing the logic used to gatherdocument metadata regarding an intended audience of a document and thesensitivity level of the document; and

FIG. 7 is a depiction of a flowchart showing the steps taken by theenhanced screen reader that utilizes dynamic voice characteristics toconvey sensitivity and audience information to a user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1-7 describe an approach that enhances the use of assistivetechnology in the social networking domains by providing users who arevision-impaired with different sound characteristics through screenreaders to alert the user before such user posts any messages to thesocial networking website. In one embodiment, the approach can alsoprovide users different color backgrounds to alert users with visualcues.

By utilizing the specification described in Speech Synthesis MarkupLanguage Specification for the Speech Interface Framework and WAI-ARIAframework, this approach will detect whether the content the user wantsto post to the social networking website contains sensitive information.The approach also detects the audience size to which the post will besubmitted. In addition, the approach detects the privacy level themessage will be submitted to, for example, only me, close friend,custom, friends, public.

In one embodiment, the approach operates by settings different flagsbased on the message privacy level. In this manner, the approachassociates privacy levels with the attributes defined in the Prosody andStyle section in the Speech Synthesis Markup Language Specification, inparticular, the “<emphasis> markup.” For example, the pre-defined rulescan associate the public message with <emphasis level=“strong”> markup.In this example, the pre-defined rules can associate a message that isshared with all the friends with <emphasis level=“moderate”> markup, andcan associate a message that is shared with close friends with <emphasislevel=“none”> markup, and can associate a message that is shared onlywith the user with <emphasis level=“reduced”> markup.

In addition, the approach can set a role=“alert” to the text that willbe posted so the screen reader can announce as an alert accordingly. Atthe same time, not all the users use screen readers intensively. Forexample, different types of styling on the text such as bold, italics,larger font size, underlined font can greatly help the user withdifferent vision issues (e.g., low vision, color blindness, etc.) to usecomputer software. This invention system associates the pre-definedrules based on the message submission privacy level with different highcontrast color.

For example, the pre-defined rules can associate the public message with<h1> heading which displays the message using a larger font.

  h1 {  font-size: 4em;  font-weight: bold; }

the pre-defined rules can associate the message that is shared with allthe friends with <h2> heading which displays the messages using the fonta bit smaller than <h1> heading:

  h2 {  font-size: 3em;  font-weight: bold; }

the pre-defined rules can further associate the message that is sharedwith close friends with <h3> heading which displays the messages usingthe font a bit smaller than <h2> heading.

  h3 {  font-size: 2em;  font-weight: bold; }

Finally, the pre-defined rules can associate the message that is sharedonly with the user with an <h4> heading which displays the messagesusing the font a bit smaller than <h3> heading:

  h4 {  margin-top: 1em;  font-weight: bold; }

Below is an example of a transformed markup:

  <h1 id=″sample_alert″ role=″alert″ class=″redTextMessage″>That is a<emphasis level=″strong″> I found a bug in the w3.ibm.com web site</emphasis></h1> <h2 id=″sample_alert″ role=″alert″class=″orangeTextMessage″>That is a <emphasis level=″moderate″> I mustsubmit the monthly status report today </emphasis></h2> <h3id=″sample_alert″ role=″alert″ class=″greenTextMessage″>That is a<emphasis level=″none″> I will do a presentation to my team thismorning. </emphasis></h3> <h4 id=″sample_alert″ role=″alert″class=″blueTextMessage″>That is a <emphasis level=″reduced″> I amdebugging the code now </emphasis></h4>

In the approach described herein, the enhanced screen reader audiblyreads the text to the user using different vocal intonations and voicesbased on the updated attributes, examples of which are shown above. Theapproach can also display the message using different types ofhighlighting, such as different font sizes and colors, to alert the userregarding attributes of the content, or message, such as the privacylevel and audience size. In addition, the approach can operate ondifferent types of devices, such as mobile smart phones, etc., that havethe ability to audibly read text or display text with differenthighlights.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like,and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

The following detailed description will generally follow the summary ofthe invention, as set forth above, further explaining and expanding thedefinitions of the various aspects and embodiments of the invention asnecessary. To this end, this detailed description first sets forth acomputing environment in FIG. 1 that is suitable to implement thesoftware and/or hardware techniques associated with the invention. Anetworked environment is illustrated in FIG. 2 as an extension of thebasic computing environment, to emphasize that modern computingtechniques can be performed across multiple discrete devices.

FIG. 1 illustrates information handling system 100, which is asimplified example of a computer system capable of performing thecomputing operations described herein. Information handling system 100includes one or more processors 110 coupled to processor interface bus112. Processor interface bus 112 connects processors 110 to Northbridge115, which is also known as the Memory Controller Hub (MCH). Northbridge115 connects to system memory 120 and provides a means for processor(s)110 to access the system memory. Graphics controller 125 also connectsto Northbridge 115. In one embodiment, PCI Express bus 118 connectsNorthbridge 115 to graphics controller 125. Graphics controller 125connects to display device 130, such as a computer monitor.

Northbridge 115 and Southbridge 135 connect to each other using bus 119.In one embodiment, the bus is a Direct Media Interface (DMI) bus thattransfers data at high speeds in each direction between Northbridge 115and Southbridge 135. In another embodiment, a Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) bus connects the Northbridge and the Southbridge.Southbridge 135, also known as the I/O Controller Hub (ICH) is a chipthat generally implements capabilities that operate at slower speedsthan the capabilities provided by the Northbridge. Southbridge 135typically provides various busses used to connect various components.These busses include, for example, PCI and PCI Express busses, an ISAbus, a System Management Bus (SMBus or SMB), and/or a Low Pin Count(LPC) bus. The LPC bus often connects low-bandwidth devices, such asboot ROM 196 and “legacy” I/O devices (using a “super I/O” chip). The“legacy” I/O devices (198) can include, for example, serial and parallelports, keyboard, mouse, and/or a floppy disk controller. The LPC busalso connects Southbridge 135 to Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 195.Other components often included in Southbridge 135 include a DirectMemory Access (DMA) controller, a Programmable Interrupt Controller(PIC), and a storage device controller, which connects Southbridge 135to nonvolatile storage device 185, such as a hard disk drive, using bus184.

ExpressCard 155 is a slot that connects hot-pluggable devices to theinformation handling system. ExpressCard 155 supports both PCI Expressand USB connectivity as it connects to Southbridge 135 using both theUniversal Serial Bus (USB) the PCI Express bus. Southbridge 135 includesUSB Controller 140 that provides USB connectivity to devices thatconnect to the USB. These devices include webcam (camera) 150, infrared(IR) receiver 148, keyboard and trackpad 144, and Bluetooth device 146,which provides for wireless personal area networks (PANs). USBController 140 also provides USB connectivity to other miscellaneous USBconnected devices 142, such as a mouse, removable nonvolatile storagedevice 145, modems, network cards, ISDN connectors, fax, printers, USBhubs, and many other types of USB connected devices. While removablenonvolatile storage device 145 is shown as a USB-connected device,removable nonvolatile storage device 145 could be connected using adifferent interface, such as a Firewire interface, etcetera.

Wireless Local Area Network (LAN) device 175 connects to Southbridge 135via the PCI or PCI Express bus 172. LAN device 175 typically implementsone of the IEEE 0.802.11 standards of over-the-air modulation techniquesthat all use the same protocol to wireless communicate betweeninformation handling system 100 and another computer system or device.Optical storage device 190 connects to Southbridge 135 using Serial ATA(SATA) bus 188. Serial ATA adapters and devices communicate over ahigh-speed serial link. The Serial ATA bus also connects Southbridge 135to other forms of storage devices, such as hard disk drives. Audiocircuitry 160, such as a sound card, connects to Southbridge 135 via bus158. Audio circuitry 160 also provides functionality such as audioline-in and optical digital audio in port 162, optical digital outputand headphone jack 164, internal speakers 166, and internal microphone168. Ethernet controller 170 connects to Southbridge 135 using a bus,such as the PCI or PCI Express bus. Ethernet controller 170 connectsinformation handling system 100 to a computer network, such as a LocalArea Network (LAN), the Internet, and other public and private computernetworks.

While FIG. 1 shows one information handling system, an informationhandling system may take many forms. For example, an informationhandling system may take the form of a desktop, server, portable,laptop, notebook, or other form factor computer or data processingsystem. In addition, an information handling system may take other formfactors such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a gaming device, ATMmachine, a portable telephone device, a communication device or otherdevices that include a processor and memory.

The Trusted Platform Module (TPM 195) shown in FIG. 1 and describedherein to provide security functions is but one example of a hardwaresecurity module (HSM). Therefore, the TPM described and claimed hereinincludes any type of HSM including, but not limited to, hardwaresecurity devices that conform to the Trusted Computing Groups (TCG)standard, and entitled “Trusted Platform Module (TPM) SpecificationVersion 1.2.” The TPM is a hardware security subsystem that may beincorporated into any number of information handling systems, such asthose outlined in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 provides an extension of the information handling systemenvironment shown in FIG. 1 to illustrate that the methods describedherein can be performed on a wide variety of information handlingsystems that operate in a networked environment. Types of informationhandling systems range from small handheld devices, such as handheldcomputer/mobile telephone 210 to large mainframe systems, such asmainframe computer 270. Examples of handheld computer 210 includepersonal digital assistants (PDAs), personal entertainment devices, suchas MP3 players, portable televisions, and compact disc players. Otherexamples of information handling systems include pen, or tablet,computer 220, laptop, or notebook, computer 230, workstation 240,personal computer system 250, and server 260. Other types of informationhandling systems that are not individually shown in FIG. 2 arerepresented by information handling system 280. As shown, the variousinformation handling systems can be networked together using computernetwork 200. Types of computer network that can be used to interconnectthe various information handling systems include Local Area Networks(LANs), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), the Internet, the PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN), other wireless networks, and anyother network topology that can be used to interconnect the informationhandling systems. Many of the information handling systems includenonvolatile data stores, such as hard drives and/or nonvolatile memory.Some of the information handling systems shown in FIG. 2 depictsseparate nonvolatile data stores (server 260 utilizes nonvolatile datastore 265, mainframe computer 270 utilizes nonvolatile data store 275,and information handling system 280 utilizes nonvolatile data store285). The nonvolatile data store can be a component that is external tothe various information handling systems or can be internal to one ofthe information handling systems. In addition, removable nonvolatilestorage device 145 can be shared among two or more information handlingsystems using various techniques, such as connecting the removablenonvolatile storage device 145 to a USB port or other connector of theinformation handling systems.

FIG. 3 is a component diagram that depicts the various components usedin providing advanced assistive technology to visually impaired users toalert the user of sensitivity and audience issues. User 300 is avisually impaired user that utilizes document 320 on display device 310.In one embodiment, as the user is utilizing the document on displayscreen 310, content analysis process 330 is repeatedly performed toascertain characteristics, or metadata, of the document. Metadatapertaining to the document is stored in memory area 350 and can includea sensitivity level of the document (confidential, restricted, etc.),and audience characteristics, such as a size of the intended audiencethat will receive the document over social media or other computernetwork means. Audience characteristics can also include a relationshipbetween user 300 and the various audience members (e.g., public, family,friends, colleagues, only the user, etc.).

Content analysis 330 and metadata stored in memory area 340 feed into atext to speech, or screen reader, setup process 350. Setup process 350determines the audible vocal characteristics that are to be used to readthe document, or parts thereof, to the user with such vocalcharacteristics conveying the metadata pertaining to the document. Forexample, a male vocal characteristic might be used to convey that thedocument is sensitive with deeper male voices used to convey furthersensitivity while, conversely, a female vocal characteristic might beused to convey that the document is not sensitive with higher femalevocal characteristics being used to convey further lack of sensitivity.Other vocal characteristics, such as volume, can be used to conveyaudience information, such as increasing the volume of the audible vocalcharacteristic when more individuals are in the audience and reducingthe volume when there are fewer audience members. Still more vocalcharacteristics, such as accents, can be used to convey furthermetadata, such as relationships between the intended audience and theuser. For example, a British accent can be used to convey that therelationship is close (family, friends, etc.), an American accent can beused to convey that the relationship is “Public,” and an Australianaccent can be used to convey that the relationship is “self” (documentonly intended for the user). The dynamic vocal characteristicsdetermined by process 350 based on the document metadata are stored inmemory area 360.

Text to speech process 370, such as a screen reader, uses the dynamicvocal properties stored in memory area 360 to read text of the documentback to the visually impaired user. The content read by the text tospeech process has vocal characteristics that indicate, to the user,different attributes of the document, such as the sensitivity, audiencesize, and audience relationships.

FIG. 4 is a depiction of a flowchart showing steps taken during anenhanced screen reader voice characteristic setup process. FIG. 4processing commences at 400 and shows the steps taken by a setup processthat establishes screen reader voice characteristic preferences. At step410, the process selects the first metadata type from data store 420.Metadata types can include sensitivity levels, audience size,relationships, and other metadata types. At step 425, the processpresents the retrieved metadata to the hearing impaired user that issetting up the enhanced screen reader technology.

At step 430, the process retrieves voice characteristic options fromdata store 440 and presents the available options to the user that issetting up the enhanced screen reader technology. Voice characteristicoptions can include male/female voices, accents (British, American,etc.), volume (e.g., louder for larger audience, etc.), and othercharacteristics. At step 450, the process receives the voicecharacteristic selection(s) from the user with such selectionscorresponding to the currently selected metadata type. The voicecharacteristics selected by the user for the selected metadata type arestored in memory area 460. At step 465, the process plays an audiblevoice of some sample text using the selected voice characteristics withthe screen reader technology, such as reading the text with a male voicein a British accent, etc.

At step 470, the process prompts the user as to whether the user wishesto apply more characteristics to the currently selected voicecharacteristics or change the currently selected characteristics todifferent characteristics the screen reader is reading content thatmatches the selected metadata type.

The process determines as to whether the user wants to change or addvoice characteristics (decision 475). If the user wants to change or addvoice characteristics, then decision 475 branches to the ‘yes’ branchwhich loops back to step 450 to receive further voice characteristicselections from the user. This looping continues until the user nolonger wants to change or add voice characteristics, at which pointdecision 475 branches to the ‘no’ branch exiting the loop.

At step 480, the process retrieves the voice characteristic(s) selectedby the user for the selected metadata type from memory area 460 andstores the data in voice characteristic configuration data store 485.Voice characteristic configuration data store 485 includes the metadatatypes and the voice characteristic(s) selected for each of the metadatatypes. The process determines as to whether there are more metadatatypes to select and process as described above (decision 490). If thereare more metadata types to select and process, then decision 490branches to the ‘yes’ branch which loops back to step 410 to select andprocess the next metadata type as described above. This loopingcontinues until there are no more metadata types to select, at whichpoint decision 490 branches to the ‘no’ branch exiting the loop. Screenreader voice characteristic preferences setup shown in FIG. 4 thereafterends at 495.

FIG. 5 is a depiction of a flowchart showing steps taken during enhancedscreen reader usage. FIG. 5 processing commences at 500 and shows thesteps taken by a process that allows a visually impaired user to utilizethe enhanced screen reader. At step 510, the visually impaired usercreates document 525 with assistance of the enhanced screen reader(e.g., a standard document, an email message, a reply all/reply toemail, blog post, social media post, etc.). The distribution list of theintended recipients of document 525 is stored in data store 520.

At predefined process 530, as the visually impaired user working withdocument, the process continually gathers document metadata (e.g.,intended recipients, sensitivity, etc.) (see FIG. 6 and correspondingtext for processing details). Predefined process stores the metadataregarding the document being used by the user in memory area 340 andstores the dynamic voice characteristics used to audibly read thedocument to the user in memory area 350. The dynamic voicecharacteristics used to audibly read the document are based on theuser's preferences and the metadata pertaining to the document that wasstored in memory area 340.

At predefined process 560, the process performs the Assist User usingScreen Reader with Dynamic Voice Characteristics routine (see FIG. 7 andcorresponding text for processing details). Predefined process 560retrieves the dynamic voice characteristics from memory area 350 to readdocument 525 to user 300 (e.g., using a male voice to signify sensitiveinformation in the document, using a louder voice to signify a largeraudience, using an accent to signify a particular relationship betweenthe user and the audience, etc.).

The process determines as to whether the user continues working on thedocument (decision 570). If the user continues to work on the document,then decision 570 branches to the ‘yes’ branch which loops back to step510 to continue work on the document and to continue gathering metadataregarding the document. This looping continues until the user no longerwishes to continue work on the document (e.g., sends the message,save/close the document, posts the document as a message, etc.), atwhich point decision 570 branches to the ‘no’ branch exiting the loop.

When the user is finished working on the document then, at predefinedprocess 575, the process performs the Assist User to Send Document toIntended Recipients or Cancel using Screen Reader with Dynamic VoiceCharacteristics routine (see FIG. 7 and corresponding text forprocessing details). Predefined process 575 audibly reads text ofdocument 525 to the user using the dynamic voice characteristics savedin memory area 350. In one embodiment, additional instructions regardingsending (or posting) the document or canceling the document are read tothe user using the enhanced screen reader with such instructions beingread from data store 580.

The process determines as to whether the user wishes to send/post thedocument (decision 585). If the user wishes to send/post the document,then decision 585 branches to the ‘yes’ branch whereupon, at step 590,the process sends document to intended recipients (e.g., via anemail/text message “send” operation, posting the message to a blog orsocial media account, etc.). On the other hand, if the user does notwish to send/post the document, then decision 585 branches to the ‘no’branch bypassing step 590. FIG. 5 processing thereafter ends at 595.

FIG. 6 is a depiction of a flowchart showing the logic used to gatherdocument metadata regarding an intended audience of a document and thesensitivity level of the document. FIG. 6 processing commences at 600and shows the steps taken by a process that gathers document metadatafrom a document that is being utilized by the visually impaired user. Atstep 610, the process detects the audience size of the document. Forexample, in an email or text, the audience size can be determined basedon the distribution list. In an online post, such as a blog or socialmedia post, the audience size can be determined based on the group towhich the message is being posted and any restrictions that have beenapplied to the group (e.g., only colleagues, family members, everyone,etc.). At step 620, the process selects the first intended recipientfrom the list of intended recipients. At step 625, the processdetermines any social relationship between the user that is preparingthe document and the selected recipient. The social relationship can bedetermined using social media data corresponding to the user, otheronline sources, and profile data related to the user. The relationshipdetermined by step 625 is stored in memory area 340. The processdetermines whether there are more intended recipients of the document(decision 630). If there are more intended recipients of the document,then decision 630 branches to the ‘yes’ branch which loops back to step620 to select and process the next intended recipient. This loopingcontinues until all of the intended recipients have been processed, atwhich point decision 630 branches to the ‘no’ branch exiting the loop.

At step 640, the process uses natural language processing (NLP)techniques to analyze the document for sensitivity level. In oneembodiment, key words such as “confidential,” “private,” etc. aredetected by step 640. In another embodiment, subject matters discussedin the document are detected and analyzed for possible sensitivitysettings (e.g., personal issues, new ventures, etc.). The sensitivitydata discovered by step 640 is stored in metadata memory area 340. Atstep 650, the process selects the first metadata type (e.g., sensitivitylevel, audience size, relationship, etc.) from data store 420.

At step 660, the process matches the selected metadata type to theuser's configuration to identify voice characteristic to use for theselected type. For example, if the metadata type is “sensitivity” andthe metadata indicates that the document has a higher sensitivity level(e.g., confidential, etc.), then the configured vocal characteristicmight be a male voice. Step 660 stores the identified characteristics inmemory area 670. At step 680, the process adds the identified voicecharacteristic from memory area 670 to the set of current dynamiccharacteristics that are stored in memory area 350 so that multiplevocal characteristics can be identified and stored to indicate differentaspects of the document (e.g., male voice to indicate sensitiveinformation, louder voice to indicate larger audience, and Britishaccent to indicate family relationship between the user and theaudience, etc.).

The process determines whether there are more metadata types to process(decision 690). If there are more metadata types to process, thendecision 690 branches to the ‘yes’ branch which loops back to step 650to select and process the next metadata type as described above. Thislooping continues until there are no more metadata types to process, atwhich point decision 690 branches to the ‘no’ branch exiting the loop.FIG. 6 processing thereafter returns to the calling routine (see FIG. 5)at 695.

FIG. 7 is a depiction of a flowchart showing the steps taken by theenhanced screen reader that utilizes dynamic voice characteristics toconvey sensitivity and audience information to a user. FIG. 7 processingcommences at 700 and shows the steps taken by a process that provides ascreen reader with dynamic voice characteristics. At step 710, theprocess retrieves the current voice characteristics to use when readingtext to the user (e.g., male/female voice, vocal accent, volume, etc.).At step 720, the process sets the reader's vocal characteristics to theretrieved current voice characteristics. The screen reader's settingsare stored in memory area 730.

At step 740, the process receives text to be audibly read to visuallyimpaired user 300. Types of document related text that can be readinclude distribution list data 520, actual document text 520, finalsend/cancel instructions 580, and any other document related text orinstructions. The text to be read is stored in memory area 760. At step770, the process retrieves the text to be read from memory area 760 andaudibly recites the retrieved text to user 300 using the vocalcharacteristics as set to current screen reader voice characteristics inscreen reader settings 730. FIG. 7 processing thereafter returns to thecalling routine (see FIG. 5) at 795.

While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shownand described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that,based upon the teachings herein, that changes and modifications may bemade without departing from this invention and its broader aspects.Therefore, the appended claims are to encompass within their scope allsuch changes and modifications as are within the true spirit and scopeof this invention. It will be understood by those with skill in the artthat if a specific number of an introduced claim element is intended,such intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absenceof such recitation no such limitation is present. For non-limitingexample, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claimscontain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one ormore” to introduce claim elements. However, the use of such phrasesshould not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claimelement by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particularclaim containing such introduced claim element to inventions containingonly one such element, even when the same claim includes theintroductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinitearticles such as “a” or “an”; the same holds true for the use in theclaims of definite articles.

1. A method implemented by an information handling system that includesa processor and a memory accessible by the processor, the methodcomprising: analyzing, by the processor, a document that is beingcomposed by a visually impaired user, wherein the analysis derives asensitivity of the document; retrieving, from the memory, a vocalcharacteristic corresponding to the derived sensitivity based on one ormore predefined settings; retrieving, from the memory, an additionalvocal characteristic corresponding to an audience size of the document;and audibly reading text from the document to the visually impaired userwith a text to speech process utilizing the retrieved vocalcharacteristic and the additional vocal characteristic.
 2. (canceled) 3.The method of claim 1 wherein the vocal characteristic is a speakergender and the additional vocal characteristic is a speaker volume. 4.The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing further detects an intendedmessage that includes the document and an audience relationship betweenthe visually impaired user and one or more members of the audience, andwherein the additional voice characteristic also corresponds to theaudience relationship.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the derivedsensitivity is based on one or more aspects from a group that includesconfidentiality, offensiveness, social convention, ethnicity, and age.6. The method of claim 1 wherein the document is a message intended tobe sent to one or more recipients in a social networking system, themethod further comprising: receiving the document from the visuallyimpaired user; applying one or more natural language processing (NLP)techniques to derive the sensitivity of the document; marking one ormore areas of the document with one or more document tags that indicatethe derived sensitivity of the corresponding areas; retrieving the vocalcharacteristic corresponding to the derived sensitivity and a secondvocal characteristic corresponding to non-sensitive areas of thedocument; and wherein the audibly reading of the text includes readingthe areas marked with the document tags with the vocal characteristicsthat correspond to the derived sensitivity, and reading the areas notmarked with the document tags with the second vocal characteristics. 7.The method of claim 6 wherein the social networking system is selectedfrom a group consisting of an instant messaging (IM) system, a shortmessage services (SMS) system, a blog-based system, a website, a socialmedia community system, a news feed system, an email system, and avoice-over IP (VoIP) system.
 8. An information handling systemcomprising: one or more processors; a memory coupled to at least one ofthe processors; and a set of computer program instructions stored in thememory and executed by at least one of the processors in order toperform actions comprising: analyzing a document that is being composedby a visually impaired user, wherein the analysis derives a sensitivityof the document; retrieving a vocal characteristic corresponding to thederived sensitivity based on one or more predefined settings; retrievingan additional vocal characteristic corresponding to an audience size ofthe document; and audibly reading text from the document to the visuallyimpaired user with a text to speech process utilizing the retrievedvocal characteristic and the additional vocal characteristic. 9.(canceled)
 10. The information handling system of claim 8 wherein thevocal characteristic is a speaker gender and the additional vocalcharacteristic is a speaker volume.
 11. The information handling systemof claim 8 wherein the analyzing further detects an intended messagethat includes the document and an audience relationship between thevisually impaired user and one or more members of the audience, andwherein the additional voice characteristic also corresponds to theaudience relationship.
 12. The information handling system of claim 8wherein the derived sensitivity is based on one or more aspects from agroup that includes confidentiality, offensiveness, social convention,ethnicity, and age.
 13. The information handling system of claim 8wherein the document is a message intended to be sent to one or morerecipients in a social networking system, the actions furthercomprising: receiving the document from the visually impaired user;applying one or more natural language processing (NLP) techniques toderive the sensitivity of the document; marking one or more areas of thedocument with one or more document tags that indicate the derivedsensitivity of the corresponding areas; retrieving the vocalcharacteristic corresponding to the derived sensitivity and a secondvocal characteristic corresponding to non-sensitive areas of thedocument; and wherein the audibly reading of the text includes readingthe areas marked with the document tags with the vocal characteristicsthat correspond to the derived sensitivity, and reading the areas notmarked with the document tags with the second vocal characteristics. 14.The information handling system of claim 13 wherein the socialnetworking system is selected from a group consisting of an instantmessaging (IM) system, a short message services (SMS) system, ablog-based system, a website, a social media community system, a newsfeed system, an email system, and a voice-over IP (VoIP) system.
 15. Acomputer program product stored in a computer readable storage medium,comprising computer program code that, when executed by an informationhandling system, performs actions comprising: analyzing a document thatis being composed by a visually impaired user, wherein the analysisderives a sensitivity of the document; retrieving a vocal characteristiccorresponding to the derived sensitivity based on one or more predefinedsettings; retrieving an additional vocal characteristic corresponding toan audience size of the document; and audibly reading text from thedocument to the visually impaired user with a text to speech processutilizing the retrieved vocal characteristic and the additional vocalcharacteristic.
 16. (canceled)
 17. The computer program product of claim15 wherein the vocal characteristic is a speaker gender and theadditional vocal characteristic is a speaker volume.
 18. The computerprogram product of claim 15 wherein the analyzing further detects an ofan intended message that includes the document and an audiencerelationship between the visually impaired user and one or more membersof the audience, and wherein the additional voice characteristic alsocorresponds to the audience relationship.
 19. The computer programproduct of claim 15 wherein the derived sensitivity is based on one ormore aspects from a group that includes confidentiality, offensiveness,social convention, ethnicity, and age.
 20. The computer program productof claim 15 wherein the document is a message intended to be sent to oneor more recipients in a social networking system, the actions furthercomprising: receiving the document from the visually impaired user;applying one or more natural language processing (NLP) techniques toderive the sensitivity of the document; marking one or more areas of thedocument with one or more document tags that indicate the derivedsensitivity of the corresponding areas; retrieving the vocalcharacteristic corresponding to the derived sensitivity and a secondvocal characteristic corresponding to non-sensitive areas of thedocument; and wherein the audibly reading of the text includes readingthe areas marked with the document tags with the vocal characteristicsthat correspond to the derived sensitivity, and reading the areas notmarked with the document tags with the second vocal characteristics.